Hot take: Portfolio reviews at that conference in San Diego felt like a waste of time

I went to this design conference last month in San Diego, paid like $50 extra for a portfolio review session. Figured it'd be a chance to get some real feedback. But the guy they paired me with spent 10 minutes just skimming through my work on his phone, barely looked up from his screen. He told me to 'add more white space' and that was pretty much it. I asked for specifics on my typography choices and he just shrugged. Three years ago I had a junior designer give me better feedback over a coffee for free. The whole thing felt rushed, like they were just checking a box for the schedule. Has anyone else had a portfolio review at a conference that actually helped?

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1 Comment

the_ray16h ago

Man, that sucks. Did you at least get to see some cool talks or was the whole thing a letdown? I had a similar experience at a conference in Austin where the reviewer spent half the time scrolling through LinkedIn on his laptop while I was standing there with my print portfolio. It's so frustrating when you pay extra for something that's supposed to be a real mentoring session and it feels like a formality they have to get out of the way. Makes you wonder if they even read your work beforehand or just show up blind.